POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



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gravel deposit at West Philadelphia, which 

 Mr. C. E. Hall has regarded as a glacial 

 moraine, " is identical with that whicli oc- 

 curs all along the Delaware from Trenton 

 to Wilmington." Even at the Wind Gap, 

 only a short distance south of his moraine 

 line, Mr. Lewis did not see a single scratched 

 or transported bowlder, nor any striai or 

 other signs of glaciation, although these 

 were abundant three miles away, where 

 they suddenly stopped 



Bacteria and Snrgical Lesions. — The 



positive demonstration of the important 

 factorage of bacterial growths in surgical 

 lesions, says Dr. H. 0. Marcy, of Boston, 

 in an address before a section of the Amer- 

 ican Medical Association, would seem no 

 longer wanting. Its recognition in the evo- 

 lution of the systems of modern wound- 

 treatment is apparent, yet Dr. Marcy is 

 ready to admit that "many questions of 

 great magnitude remain unsettled, that many 

 subjects connected therewith are shrouded 

 in doubt and obscurity, and that many fields 

 of great promise remain yet for explora- 

 tion. While this may temper our zeal, and 

 cause us to examine with double caution 

 our premises and conclusions, it can not the 

 less stimulate every thoughtful student to 

 better endeavor and renewed effort." The 

 too commonly held ideas of antiseptic sur- 

 gery, as consisting of carbolic acid applied 

 as spray, or in dressing, are believed to be 

 " not only superficial and misleading, but 

 distinctly incorrect and injurious." Such 

 imperfect knowledge of any scientific truths 

 must have its fruitage only in evil, leading 

 to a distrust in methods, at the best only 

 half understood, and the results obtained, 

 where protection in wounds has not been 

 secured, are falsely reported in proof that 

 antiseptic surgery is only the fashion of the 

 hour." 



Depth of Frozen Arctic Soil.— General 

 Sir J. H. Lefroy communicated to the Brit- 

 ish Association at its last meeting the re- 

 sults, so far, of researches to ascertain the 

 depth of the permanently frozen soil in the 

 Arctic regions of Siberia and British North 

 America. The depth of the "perpetual 

 ground-ice," as it is called, has been found 

 to be, near Yakutsk, Siberia, three hundred 



and eighty-two feet. But few actual meas- 

 urements have been recorded in North 

 America, for the people who possess a per- 

 petually frozen soil do not like to speak of 

 it, for fear that it may be regarded as a stig- 

 ma against their climate. The greatest 

 thickness of " ground - ice " yet actually 

 measured in America is forty-five feet, a3 

 measured by Sir John Riciiardson in lati- 

 tude 64° 20' and longitude 121° 15' west. 

 There is good reason to believe, however, 

 that within the Arctic Circle in America a 

 thickness of ground-ice is attained much ex- 

 ceeding that at Yakutsk. Lieutenant P. II. 

 Ray, U. S. A., sank a pit near Point Bar- 

 row, in 1883, to a depth of thirty-eight feet. 

 At twenty-eight feet from the surface the 

 temperature of the soil was 12° Fahr. ; and 

 it was the same at thirty-eight feet. Tak- 

 ing the unit of increase of temperature per 

 unit of depth under-ground as 1° Fahr. for 

 sixty-four feet. Lieutenant Ray provisional- 

 ly computed the total thickness of the ice at 

 about thirteen hundred, feet. The depth to 

 which the summer thaw reaches and its rate 

 of progress are more variable, for they are 

 more dependent on the season and the ex- 

 posure than the depth of tlie frozen soil. 

 They must greatly influence the agricultural 

 capabilities of the place. In some respects 

 the existence of a frozen stratum under- 

 ground may be regarded as rather an ad- 

 vantage than otherwise. The cooling of the 

 surface soil which it effects appears to be a 

 provision to counteract the intense heating 

 power of the sun in the summer months, 

 and to secure a supply of moisture to the 

 roots of cereals when they most require it ; 

 so much so that General Lefroy believes 

 that agricultural experience in the North- 

 west would be in favor of retaining it, even 

 if it were possible to get rid of it. 



The Travels of a Storm. — At the meet- 

 ing of the Royal Meteorological Society 

 held November 18th, Mr. Henry Harries 

 read a paper on " The Typhoon Origin of the 

 Weather over the British Isles during the 

 Second Half of October, 1885," which em- 

 bodied the first daily tracing which has been 

 made of a storm from the Pacific Ocean to 

 Europe. The author showed by means of 

 daily charts that a typhoon which originated 

 near the Philippine Islands on September 



